Introducing Sea Shepherd’s newest old ship, SSS Sam Simon

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on Tuesday unveiled its newest addition to the fleet, the SSS (as in Sea Shepherd Ship) Sam Simon.

Named after the man who gave Sea Shepherd the money to purchase it – Sam Simon is co-creator of The "Simpsons" - the SSS Sam Simon was unveiled today in the port of Hobart, Tasmania where it is preparing to depart on Sea Shepherd’s newest campaign, “Operation Zero Tolerance.

The all white, 56- meter vessel is registered in Melbourne, Australia, and will carry a crew of 24 international volunteers who are ready to brave the Southern Ocean – and the infamous Sea Shepherd antics – in order to seek out and shut down the illegal Japanese whaling fleet.

The vessel itself was built in 1993 by IHI shipyard in Tokyo and was formerly used as a research ship by the Japanese Government – go figure !

The Sam Simon features an ice-strengthened hull and was operated by the Maizuru Meteorogical Observatory, a department of the Japan Meteorological Agency, up until 2010.